Background
Brod was born in Prague on May 27, 1884.
Brod was born in Prague on May 27, 1884.
He studied law at German university. After receiving his doctorate, he entered government service although his main interests were literature, music, and Zionism.
From 1924 until the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939, he was associated with Prager Tagblatt as literary and music critic. Thereafter he lived in the Tel Aviv area and was drama adviser of the Habimah, the foremost Hebrew theater.
Brod’s literary career began in 1906 with lyrics and narratives. His early tales were generally centered in Prague, often in a Jewish milieu, and incorporated erotic scenes. With his trilogy, "Tycho Brahes Weg zu Gott" (“Tycho Brahe’s Way to God,” 1916), "Reubeni Fiirst der Juden" (Reuben, Prince of the Jews,” 1925), and "Galilei in Gefangenschaft" (“Galileo in Confinement,” 1947), he rose to fame as the creator of more serious historical novels. Unforgettable is Brod’s portrait of Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, who toward the end of his life recognized the more correct astronomical conclusions of young Johannes Kepler and had the courage to plead for their acceptance by Emperor Rudolph II, even though they contradicted his own.
Brod’s greater fame stemmed from his close friendship with Franz Kafka, whose genius he was the first to recognize. Kafka, aware of approaching death, designated Brod as his literary executor, with instructions to destroy his unpublished manuscripts, but Brod disobeyed the instructions and devoted himself to publishing, editing, interpreting, and, in a series of studies extending over four decades, calling attention to his friend’s life and works.
Brod's interest in music led him to write and to translate libretti, to further the popularity of the Czech composer of operas, Leos Janadek, and to publish a study on Gustav Mahler (1961) as well as a booklet, "Die Musik Israels" (“The Music of Israel,” 1951), in which he tried to define the specific character of Jewish music from the biblical cantillations and the folksongs to the modern composers of the Diaspora and the newest developments in the Jewish State. He was also a composer, whose works included "Requiem Hebraicum".
In the two volumes of "Heidentum, Christentum Judentum" (“Heathenism, Christianity, Judaism,” 1921), Brod documented his religious faith. He hoped that a world that had experimented with heathenism and with Christianity, and which had (ailed to achieve a healthy relationship between individuals and peoples, would turn to the Jewish pioneers in the Holy Land for guidance on the formation of a more moral society.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Brod gathered about him a circle of Jewish intellectuals whose uniqueness he delineated in "Der Prager Kreis" (“The Prague Circle,” 1966) and in his autobiography "Streitbares Leben" (’’Life of Struggle,” 1960).
(Max Brod, a successful novelist, was a boyhood companion ...)
Brod’s devotion to Zionism and national humanism went back to 1913, when Prague was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. By 1918 the empire was tottering. The Jews of Prague were caught between the claims of the German and Czech nationalities.
Brod, who was becoming active in Jewish affairs, called upon his coreligionists to keep aloof from both and to give priority to Jewish national interests. He championed Zionism as the most dynamic expression of the Jewish people. For him, Zionism was more than merely a political movement. It was the way of life of all those Jews who accepted Jewish nationalism, whether in Palestine or in the Diaspora. If, however, the interest of humanity at large conflicted with specific Jewish interest, then national feeling must yield to the higher category of true humanity.